1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer storage media, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for improving the reliability of high performance hard disk drives.
2. Description of the Related Art
Disk drives are a ubiquitous form of computer data storage media. Essentially, a disk drive includes a combination of coaxially-stacked magnetic storage disks that are rotatably mounted via a spindle in an enclosure. The disk drive also includes one or more transducers, referred to as "heads". In accordance with well-known principles, the heads are controlled by a drive controller within the enclosure to position them for transfer of data to and from the disks as the disks rotate past the heads. Specifically, as the disks rotate, the heads are moved over the disks to transfer data to and from a plurality of concentric "tracks" on the disks.
It can readily be appreciated that a fundamental design consideration of a disk drive is its data transfer rate. It can be further appreciated that the faster the disks of a disk drive rotate, the faster the stored data rotates past and, thus, is available to, the heads. Consequently, faster disk rotation (e.g., 10,000 RPM) facilitates faster data transfer.
It happens, however, that increased disk rotation speed is not without cost. Specifically, the viscous dissipation, or heat generated by the disk spinning within the disk enclosure increases exponentially as disk rotation speed increases. Also, electronic components within and mostly attached to the enclosure of a high speed disk drive tend to generate significant heat. This increased heat generation, if left unchecked, can lead to increased rates of disk drive failure. In other words, the increased heat generated by high speed disk drives must be removed, or the reliability of the disk drive will be undesirably reduced.
It will be appreciated that one way to address the above-mentioned problem would be to redesign existing disk drives to more efficiently remove heat from the drive. For example, the enclosure might be redesigned to improve heat transfer. This could be accomplished with use of cooling fins on the enclosure as well use of highly thermally conductive materials. It is desirable, however, to avoid completely redesigning current disk drive structures and systems for which tooling has been built and basic design configurations have been proven. In other words, for cost and for product development reasons it is desirable not to render existing disk drive structural designs obsolete. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a means by which users of existing disk drives can easily improve the heat removal capability of the drives. In addition, it is desirable to upgrade data storage systems by replacing the existing disk drives with higher performance disk drives. The storage system manufacturer or owner would like to perform such an upgrade without necessitating new cooling fins or other modifications to the storage system. As recognized by the present invention, it is possible to increase the reliability of high speed disk drives by improving the heat transfer rate from the drives, without rendering existing drive mechanical designs obsolete or rendering existing data storage system designs obsolete.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for improving the heat removal capability of a hard disk drive. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system for improving the heat removal capability of a disk drive, without requiring redesign of the drive enclosure, the computer, or the data storage system that houses the drive or drives. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system for improving the heat removal capability of a disk drive which is easy to use and cost effective.